Infatuated
by Cranberriez
Summary: I have loads of these little things hanging around, so I thought I'd publish 'em. This one's about Dominic Howard, and it's set in highschool. Enjoy!


There he was, perfect as ever, sitting just in the right place so I could see him out of the corner of my eye. I was happy. As long as I could see him, see his glorious-ness, I was happy. I know it sounds stalker-ish, but he gets _much_ worse from all the chavs and my method is rather subtle.

_Dominic Howard...__  
_

I thought about his name, the sound of it, every syllable rolling through my mind, imagining his surname as mine, imagining knowing him well enough to be able to call him _Dom...__  
_I mean, I ate in the same place as him, but there were so many people here that hardly anyone from one side of the crowd talked to the other. But he was quite close to me today, with his little group of friends- and fans. God, they tried _so_ hard it made me pity them, just watching. I thought of myself as more mature than them, more grown-up... but then I wasn't, because they'd had _many_ more boyfriends than me, with_ much_ more popular boys. And now they were going for the high-score.

No-one had really noticed Dom until he went out with Charlotte. Until then he'd always been quite shy, and nice, and- well, on the few occasions I'd tried- easy to talk to. Now... now, even though he'd broken up with her _ages_ ago, and was still single from it, every girl hadclaimed to _suddenly_ notice his good looks and charisma, and I'm afraid to say it had gone to his head. I swear I was the only one to love him for what he was before, and still love him now. The change was bittersweet- I missed the old Dom, because even though I'd never be brave enough to make a move, I could always know that I had little or no competition, and I was content with that. Now... I wasn't a nerd, I'd tried very hard to keep out of that group 'cos i know what it does to you... now, I was 'average' popularity, I suppose. I had my strong group of friends, some more, some less popular than I, and, well, sad as it sounds, I've been trying to work my way up, to get noticed more, to seem more impressive, to get to _Dom's _level.

In those _awful_, gut-clenching moments when he caught my eye (I always felt guilty, as if he knew I'd been staring at him), I tried so hard not to look away. But every time, embarrassment took over and I never saw his reaction to my gaze. I tried to convince myself that he wouldn't notice, or take it as a compliment, but I was always worried.  
My friends knew I fancied him. But they didn't know just how _infatuated_ I was, before and after his 'rise to fame'. They knew, because they all wanted him too, just like every other girl in the universe. I could wallow in my self-pity all I liked, the facts stood clear: I was never going to get him.

As these thoughts passed through my mind (as they often do at lunch when he's near me), the depression took hold, and I took a _very _violent bite out of my sandwich. My friends were all chatting away around me, and I pretended to know what they were on about, far too concious of my every move as I _knew_ Dom could look my way at any point.  
A couple of boys broke off from the standing group to join us sitting down, and- _oh my god. _He was with them. He'd come to sit by us before, it was nothing new, but every time my heart pounded and I was painfully aware of _everything _I was doing wrong- _every_ joke I made that no-one laughed at, and such-like. _He_ sat inbetween two of my friends, seperated from me by just one person. I decided that my best bet was just not to talk; that way I couldn't make a fool of myself. But I'd better listen to the conversation rather than let the nerves completely consume me.

They were talking about some party they'd all been to- a halloween party from last weekend? I thought I remembered it, and tried to keep my mind on _that_ rather than all the fucked-up little fantasies that kept trying to remind me of _Dom...__  
_

"You couldn't go, could you Grace?" One of my friends suddenly shot at me, and I _tried_ to sound normal as I replied.

"Oh... no, I had to take my little brother to his Scouts thing..." I replied. Telling the truth would be best. Trying to come up with lies would be too much for my brain, stuffed full as it was with trying to keep track of the conversation, and Dom.

"Shame, you would've loved it." Someone else said. I couldn't target who it was.

"Bit of a party animal, eh?" I mentally froze as _he_ spoke to me. But my well trained body kept going relentless, keeping a placid expression. Thankfully someone saved me, and I had time to sort my brain out.

"Yeah, definitely... and home's not really your favourite place at the moment, huh Grace?" someone said. And then I found myself able to talk, as thoughts of my awful, degrading, painful home life drowned out everything in my brain. Apart from Dom, of course. He'll never leave my mind.

"No. It is getting a little bit better though, I mean they've stopped..." I stopped myself, realising that the true horrors would probably sound so false and showy-offy out loud.

"What?" Dom said. He sounded genuinely concerned. Wow, I'd just registered that he'd spoken to me without freezing up! I was getting better at this...

"Um, well... hitting me." I said, awkwardly, and as quietly as I could manage. Funnily enough, everyone else had got a bit bored and was back to talking about the party. The friend that had been seperating me and Dom had stood up to go and talk to- well who cares? All I knew is that I was having a conversation with _Dominic Howard_.  
At that moment I realised he looked pretty shocked. Then I remembered what I'd just told him. Then I realised he was probably taking the piss. Then I looked into his eyes and saw that he wasn't.

"Wow, you actually believe me?" I said, my voice barely more than a whisper. But it didn't matter; he was quite close now, and he heard.

"Well, yeah, I mean you wouldn't make up something like that." He said. Had I imagined the faint stress on the word 'you'?

"Oh... thanks, I spose." I said, realising I'd got myself into a dead end. I hoped he'd save me from using one of my utterly useless conversation lines. He did.

"You're Grace, yeah? I think I remember you from before..." he was talking about before he became 'famous', but he trailed off, embarrassed. Wait, _embarrassed?_ Was I getting a hint of the old Dom?

"...um, yeah, I'm Grace." I said, skirting round the last part of his sentance.

"Yeah, I do know you... sorry, this has all _really_ got to me." he said,meaning his sudden popularity.I didn't quite believe this was happening. He remembered me? But his stormy grey eyes were truthful. God, he had gorgeous eyes.

Forcing myself back to reality (I count thinking about Dom's eyes as _godly_), I smiled at his recognition.

"I remember how you used to be..." I said. I realised I'd never told _anyone _that before. It was like I was getting closer and closer to revealing just how much I wanted him, _needed _him.

"I still am like that, believe it or not..." he laughed, embarrassed. "Just... not at school, I suppose." I stared at him in wonderment.

"Why are you telling me this?" The whispered words slipped past my lips before I could stop them. Oh god, I didn't mean to say that... what if he was offended? Now all I had left was to hope he didn't take that the wrong way...

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm annoying you..." Oh shit...

"No! No, I was just wondering, I mean why _me_, specifically?" I hoped that'd make up for it...

"I'm not sure" He smiled, and I tried _so_ hard not to melt... "I suppose you always used to talk to me, so I'm... repaying the favour?" he continued. Wow, I know for sure I'd spoken to him a maximum of ten times in the whole term before he changed. Not loads, as he's put it. ...He remembered?

"Oh, and you're not like all the rest of them... not a hopeless flirty chav." He added, smiling kindly. Now I knew I was dreaming. There were _**plenty **_of girls in our year who weren't 'hopeless flirty chavs'.

"Well... thanks, I spose..." I said, smiling back. I seriously don't know how I was managing not to scream out loud and declare my un-dying love.

He was smiling at me again. I could never get enough of that smile- the genuine one from before, not the smirk he used on all the flirts. Neither of us spoke for a while, just kind of sat in silence, but I for one was content just to be _near_ him, and he didn't seem to mind, either.

After a while he spoke.

"I... kind of have something to confess to you. And maybe an apology. I hope I haven't seemed... stalker-ish to you in the past few days..." He said, sounding apologetic. I had no idea what he could mean. I thought _I_ was the one who was verging on 'stalker-ish'...

"Um... not really..." I said, my voice showing my confusion.

"Oh good. Don't worry about that then, I suppose it's just the confession. Um... y'see-" he took a deep breath, he seemed nervous. This was _very_ strange. "uh... I, um, kind of... like you. And... I was wondering... would you object if I tried to kiss you?"

_Oh my god.__  
_

This time I completely froze.

"...breathe, Grace," he said after about twenty seconds,smiling a little. I complied.

"Sorry..." I said, trying to look as if I'd absolutely _no_ idea what'd come over me. He looked a little smug- I allowed him that.

"You don't need to apologize... it's kinda flattering, I spose. But... could I take that as a no? To the objection thing, I mean." He said, looking slightly hopeful. _...__  
_

But, as he spoke I heard a high-pitched, giggly voice squeal "Where's Dommie?" from over his shoulder.

Ah well. It was nice while it lasted.

"...Grace?" He said, and I realised I still hadn't answered his question.

"Oh... sorry." I said. Was I apologizing too much? Was I wasting time before _they_ found him? Quick, speak! "Yeah... you can take that as a no." I smiled a _very_ embarrassed smile, and looked down.

"Good good..." he said softly, and I realised he was closer. I tried to shut out thoughts of what might possibly be about to happen. I knew that thinking about them directly would be kind of the same thing as looking right at the sun- I wouldn't be able to handle it. But I looked up at him, and he was still smiling, on his face and in his eyes. The smile from before hadn't quite yet faded from my face, and it widened considerably as he gently ghosted his fingers across my cheek and rested them on my chin, with his thumb underneath. He tilted my face up to his.

By now I had completely left reality. Time seemed to stop around us, and me and him were the only people in the world. The last thing my conciousness picked up before it devoted itself solely to Dom was the fact that his little gang of girls were stood right infront of us, mouths open in outrage. This just made me smile even more as I closed my eyes and Dom's forehead touched mine.

And gently- oh so gently, our lips met.


End file.
